It's been a long time coming, presumably, but finally (and I don't use the 'F-bomb' lightly here), today Google announced that Maps is receiving a real-time location sharing feature. You'll be able to share your location directly inside Maps, in real time, including navigation routes. How we've managed to go without this in Maps given how long Android and smartphone GPS have been things, I'm not sure.

The feature is dead simple to use: there's a new option in the slideout bar in the Maps app for location sharing. From there, pick contacts to share your location with and for how long (or indefinitely). That's it - you'll then show up as a little face-bubble in their Google Maps app. You can share with groups of people, and you can also initiate the share directly from inside the navigation UI when in the car. Nice.

Comments

almost. Latitude had background tracking as well that would update user location along with real-time tracking. This new google maps feature looks to have GPS on the entire time you're sharing so major battery drain. Google+ location works well with android phones. the updated location feature is frequent enough while the same feature on iOS reports in huge time gaps making it not very useful to track iOS users.

Morten Ulv

I highly doubt they would keep the GPS on unless you share your current navigation. Sharing indefinitely would make no sense.

Michael Tran

I said that it would keep GPS on when using the new feature which only allows you to share your location LIVE in time increments. Latitude had THAT feature along with period updates of your location. Back in the day, either way it was a battery drainer, but now with more efficient processors and more mature apps, periodic updates of your location isn't out of the question. It already does that in G+. They just need to combine the feature into Google Maps instead of having it separated.

demarcmj

They didn't really give enough detail in the blog post to say how this works exactly. I don't think there's any reason to believe it won't have periodic background updates à la Google+/Latitude (when you're not doing nav sharing).

The only feature I'll miss from Latitude is being able to control the granularity of the sharing. With Latitude, you could share just the city you're in with some people, and exact location with others. I would often switch my wife back to city-level detail when I was Christmas shopping or the like.

Thalles Ferreira

Christmas shopping, huh? We know you were shopping... ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

demarcmj

Saw that joke comment coming from a mile away...

Justin

Not even close, Google Latitude or Google+ isn't real-time location sharing. People you shared with can see your GPS dot moves and updated every seconds. This feature is real-time location sharing.

The people that would use this feature are most probably already sharing their location with Google, so what does the NSA have to gain from this?

Gordon Spurgeon Spooner

Merely a joke---a light-hearted reminder to the readers here that we live under constant surveillance.

Trooper311

Yup

Jim

Obama is personally following your commutes.

Impulse_Vigil

Because if the NSA is gonna track you they're definitely gonna do it thru a new and totally optional feature. P.S. You're not funny.

humulos

Oh hey, the only thing I used Google+ for is now in an app I actually use for other things

F4LL0U7

There's one more useful thing in G+ -- it allows you to sync contact info and profile photos for your contacts. Not sure why they can't just bake that feature into Google Contacts and ditch G+ forever.

humulos

Dang, that's true. Google definitely seems to be backpeddling with Plus, so hopefully we can see the contact features rolled into Contacts soon.

Justin

Ditch Google+? You must be stupid. Google+ is even larger than Twitter, only second behind Facebook based on monthly active users.

obversed

I'm with you on this but exactly zero of my contacts have used Google+ in the last few years so their contact photo and info would be ironically more out date in many cases.

F4LL0U7

Unless I'm mistaken, you don't actually have to use G+ for that feature to work. I think G+ is just the platform that shares that info. You can change your photo in Gmail and have it populate via G+. I think.

obversed

I believe you are correct about that. I have noticed though, because that feature isn't turned on by default, that contacts don't get updates unless the Google+ app is installed and that setting is turned on.

F4LL0U7

You are correct too! When setting up a freshly factory-reset Android device, one of the first things I have to do is set up (and then promptly never touch) G+.

Ditch Google+? You must be stupid. Google+ is even larger than Twitter, only second behind Facebook based on monthly active users.

F4LL0U7

So...people who don't use the social network of your choice are stupid? You must have a lot of friends.

Justin

Get this, Google is not going to ditch Google+ and Google+ isn't going away. Google+ is ten times better than your crappy Facebook for Android.

F4LL0U7

Dude, who cares? Use whatever you want. I don't use any of them. You know what's literally the dumbest place to have your social network battle to the death? The comments section of this AP post with a guy who doesn't care. White flag, I surrender, you win. G+ rules, Facebook and Twitter drool.

So Google don't want us to use the same feature in Google+? They keep moving this functionality around, its quite confusing.

Sir_Brizz

It never belonged in Google+ anyway in this instance.

Alex

It worked really well in G+ for some groups -- e.g. I was in a local Ingress group on G+ where we shared locations, which was great for organising things.

F4LL0U7

And it's also a standalone Google app called Trusted Contacts. It makes sense to have it all in Google Maps. I wonder if Trusted Contacts will go away. I will certainly uninstall it.

Rod

It's a different user case.

In Maps, the person has to share his/her location with someone else manually.

Trusted contacts if for emergencies, where the said trusted contact can request his/her location remotely.

F4LL0U7

Very true. Personally I'd rather just plan ahead and share with my wife indefinitely, and eliminate the need for another app.

Rod

There should be an option for allowing X contact to request your real-time location remotely.

But, that will trouble many people, lol.

Alex

It's also shown in Hangouts, if you click on a contact photo. I think that's based on the settings in Google+ (I don't have Trusted Contacts, but I do see people who have shared their location with me on G+ there) but I'm not sure.

SmashleyFC

RIP Glympse

AQ

Glympse is much more battery efficient then this though by using GPS only when someone is looking at your location & shows a notification of how many views & currently active viewers there are.
There is also Glympse Express if you want a quick bare bones experience without the whole social thing (& everything else) the full app has.

Imparus

"but Glympse is much more battery efficient then this though by using GPS only when someone is looking at your location "

This would be as precise as your normal location in Google maps, which mean both accuracy and power consumption depends on your location setting level, and if you are using the high precision one, how often it will need to call the gps.

M. Luciano

That's pretty awesome.

Evgany

Nice!

F4LL0U7

Remember when this feature used to be in Google Maps as Latitude? Then they removed it and shoehorned it into G+. FINALLY it's back!

Nope, and Latitude was also just a layer you could enable and disable, like Traffic. Being able to indefinitely share my location with my wife will be awesome. And it'll be nice to not have to go into G+ for locations anymore.

The question is, what will happen to Trusted Contacts? Seems like this eliminates the need for it.

That's exactly what I was thinking. I can imagine some people want friends and family to be able to know their location, but not constantly and not without being told it is happening. I just don't need to bother with that.

Does this have the passive location sharing that was moved from Maps to G+? This seems more like the sharing through Glympse where location is explicitly active until turned off.

F4LL0U7

I think it would definitely be passive sharing. You and your spouse could share with each other indefinitely, and then always see each other on the map. At least that's how I'm understanding this.

andy_o

Wired reported that there's a 3-day limit.

demarcmj

I posted it above, but since you specifically asked...

The only feature I'll miss from Latitude is being able to control the
granularity of the sharing. With Latitude, you could share just the city
you're in with some people, and exact location with others. I would
often switch my wife back to city-level detail when I was Christmas
shopping or the like.

Adam Margeson

Trusted contacts allows the other person to see where you are without your interaction. Map sharing requires that you share your location with the other person. It's two sides of a coin.

If the other person requests your location and you don't deny it within 5 minutes, it will start sharing your location automatically. Useful for emergency situations. The Maps version *might* put in location requests, but for now you have to implicitly share your location for the other person to see where you are.

Zachary Haddenham

Doesn't Trusted Contacts generally make you start the sharing as well? Other people can request it, and you get a notification that allows you to deny the request, but otherwise it doesn't share constantly by default.

Adam Margeson

See reply below. Trusted Contacts allows the other person to request your location and if you don't actively deny it within 5 minutes, your location is automatically shared. Useful for emergency situations.

Swami

OT...
"Being able to indefinitely share my location with my wife will be awesome." -- Said no husband ever.. :D :D

F4LL0U7

Hahah, well this guy falls into the cross section of husbands who have nothing to hide and are also obsessed with technology!

Biff Wonsley

Same here. I use it to see when my wife is coming home from work. Reminds me to get my ass in the kitchen and work on my chicken pot pie.

thepillock

I love sharing my location with my wife!
Well, the bit I love is having a cop of coffee ready when I walk in the door, or my dinner on the table.... Saves me having to remember to update ETAs when traffic is getting bad, if it doesn't totally stop then you can't send that message.

Master Yates

I can see how this could be useful with a second device signed into maps.......The location of the first device is still a mystery.

tlingitsoldier

My wife and I share our locations all the time. Strange things happen when you're in a relationship where you actually trust each other.

bekifft

Trusted contacts is somewhere between Android Device Manager and this.

andy_o

This is not indefinite, like Latitude or G+. It appears that it's more for real-time sharing, like navigation or when you're out and about with friends. There is a time limit of 3 days.

Similarly, Trusted Contacts is another use case, explicitly for emergencies. That's why it doesn't require input after 5 minutes in order to share your location, and why instead of notifying, it rings like a phone call.

demarcmj

It did. If you pressed on the face, you could get directions.

Sarath Chandra Gullapalli

I remember a moment from Google I/O when Google Now was introduced, that Google Now would "show a card when you leave work". I think that's the closest we had before.

in G+ you can have an applet showing all members of a 'circle'. this will surely be gone :(

Ernie

Now you can check and see where your spouse is at all times lol

Dadedade

FINALLY

Rod

The other person has to allow it.

obversed

I was able to pull the trigger on uninstalling Google+ and using the web app thanks to this. The only other feature I'll miss is the automatic Google+ contact updates.

Vlad Staicu

This would be perfect if it worked from Android Auto. Does it?

Zach Mauch

This is where this belongs. Not in Google+ or a separate app. Crazy it took so long to get there.

Jdban

It used to be in Maps before as Latitude... then they moved it to G+. Now moving it back to Maps.

Master Yates

Typical Google. One of the bad habits they learnt from Nokia. Look where they are these days...

Justin

Absolutely agreed.

Rod

This will be great for meeting people in crowded places.

Stephen Sharp

Maybe this will pave the way for trips where you have to follow someone. Make red lights far less irritating

Rod

Good catch.

F4LL0U7

Would be cool to see the other persona's icon on your nav screen, as another POI. Or be able to tap their icon and select "follow" instead of "directions" so your route would automatically update if the person you're following changes courses.

Stephen Sharp

would be pretty great in Android Auto

demarcmj

If both parties have a phone already, why wouldn't you just plug the same address into both phones? Or plug it into just the one that doesn't know where he/she is going?

HSidhu

I think lots of people don't know like me (last week), Google also have another app for this called 'Trusted Contacts'.

OK, this is cool, but showing navigation routes as well makes it killer! I might start using navigation a lot more now just so my wife can see it.

JW

And still longer waiting are the speed limit signs. Com'on.

Michael Sørensen

You will see those out your windscreen ;)

JW

Only problem is I don't see them often enough. The signs are far in between at places.

jonzey231

Finally! Used to use Latitude back in the day and then they discontinued it in favor or Locations in G+. Locations does alright but you have to keep refreshing if you want to keep an eye. I use it for my fiancee to know when I should start dinner. Her drive home is about 45 minutes so it's useful for us.

This will finally make these things so much easier lol.

F4LL0U7

I used to use Latitude to see if my ex-wife was cheating on me. She was!

jonzey231

Damn! Well at least it came in handy!

johnforamerica

Will it let you follow a drive in real-time, ala Waze?

johnforamerica

Nevermind, I just watched the damn video!

Still, I would have rather just read it...

jonzey231

Ditto and ditto lol.

Rod

Yes.

F4LL0U7

I wonder how it will handle multiple devices. I have a personal phone, a work phone, and a tablet. If my tablet is at home, my work phone is at the office, and my personal phone is navigating in my car, where will my location appear?

Michael Tran

whichever phone is last active. I've done that before and it seems to always report my most active device. whichever device is idle should be dozing.

You are talking about G+ location sharing which is by account. This is by device. So here it makes more sense that when you activate the feature on your phone you probably have only one device active so it tracks it not others.

Michael Tran

You're right. In the OP's situation, it'll be hard to activate it on the devices he's not in direct contact with. But now I wonder what would happen if you activated it on one phone, left it at home and then activated it on another phone that you took with you. It'd be quite confusing to the recipient. My guess is you're only allowed to use it IF you're signed into a google account and can only share out of a single device at a time.

Jonathan Berry

You can choose which devices record location history. I would think indefinite sharing would work that way. Short-term might just be from the device you initiated the sharing from.

Rod

Perhaps it'll send the location of the device you're allowing it from?

LOL

So the question is, what happens to Google+ location sharing? It's​ been great for spying on family members....
And I still don't get why Google doesn't integrate Waze into Google Maps. I usually end up running both apps every time I drive.....Very annoying since both are from Google

F4LL0U7

There was an AP article a little while ago that showed messaging within a future G+ release that indicated the Location functionality in that app would be going away and moving into Maps. That was our first glimpse that this functionality was incoming.

Syukri Lajin

First Glympse huh?

Morten Ulv

It will be phased out. And don't spy on people.

Serge Cebrian

so they are going to add this feature to maps..
i wonder how it should be called...
Google latitude???

i remember google i remember >:|

IVBela

Me too! Used it extensively back then. Then they removed it. Now it's back, I wonder if they remove it again in a year after I start using it again...

So..... which location sharing is about to be axed? Google only does things in pairs. We have Google+ and Trusted Contacts as contenders here. My money is on Trusted Contacts getting the axe but I hope it's the Google+ location sharing.

F4LL0U7

It's already confirmed that G+ location sharing is being phased out. Trusted Contacts just got an update this week, so that's more likely to stick around.

Michael Tran

What was the update? did it get iOS support yet?

F4LL0U7

Just stability & bug fixes. No idea about iOS support.

Rod

Trusted contacts is meant for another user case.

dxdydz

One thing I liked about the app Glimpse is that if you don't have the app installed you can send a URL that links to a webpage that live-shows your location based on the temp time parameters you set. Something similar might be handy for people who say have iPhones and don't have Google Maps installed.

waloody88

Well i am surprised google added something useful to maps at last :O

Samarth

Great! Now I cant tell my friends that I'm on the way when I haven't even got out of bed yet.

I get same thing now. The link in G+ menu opens Maps, but them immediately redirects to a page to tell me to update Maps, however I already have the latest version. I don't yet see any Location Sharing options in Maps.

Edit: I do also have the location sharing widgets, but they don't work.

tlingitsoldier

If only Google had an app/feature that would give an ETA on when new features will actually arrive. I get so sick of them saying "coming soon".

But I am thrilled that they are finally bringing this back to Maps. I have told so many Google employees that it was stupid to move Latitude to Google+. I like to think I had some small part in bringing this back!